Tuesday, November 12, 2013

How Do You Like Them Apples?

Anybody unfortunate enough to be standing near me recently while
I'm using my iPad will be aware that I am not a fan of iOS7.I have not been shy about expressing my
vexation about the new look and feel, and my feelings towards its creators,
along with my speculations about their activities, inclinations, and
parentage.However, it occurs to me that
I have not always been as eloquent as I might about its exact shortcomings.

After all, iOS7 does in fact live up to most of its advertised
goals.Is it not a sleek, modern looking
interface?Well yes, yes it is.Is it not bold and distinctive?Sure.Does it not have a spare elegance, and striking use of colors?Yes, but all this misses the point.Ask the wrong questions, and you'll get
appropriately pointless answers.

Perhaps an analogy will do a better job expressing my
opinion.Another recent acquisition, an
early Christmas present from my wonderful wife, is a Martin guitar.It's an absolutely gorgeous instrument.This present follows the theory that even
though I don't know how to play, having such a beautiful instrument will make
me want to learn to play.So far, this
is an incredibly successful strategy.I
don't want to put it down, even when the steel strings make my fingers hurt so
much I can no longer hold it.The top
and bottom are a rich, dark mahogany, with a lovely woodgrain and a gleaming
satin finish.The headplate is East
Indian Rosewood, bearing the words "C.F. Martin & Co Est 1833" in
ornate gold letters.The tortoise pickguard and
the ebony endpins provide a lovely accent and blend of textures.The Sitka Spruce struts help contribute to a
beautiful smell, which makes holding it an incredible tactile experience.It's a feast for the eyes, ears, nose and
fingers.

I know my flute is beautiful
too, but I'm having a hard time remembering it at the moment.New toy syndrome.We'll see.

Now let's imagine that one day, a friendly rep from Martin &
Co comes by my house and knocks on my door.

"Hi there!I'm from
Martin, and we're coming by to do some work for on your guitar."

"Um, wow, that's great.Is there a charge for this?I
didn't schedule an appointment."

"No, it's absolutely free!It's just part of the superior service that we like to provide to our
loyal customers."

"Wow, that's great!Come on in!So what are you going
to do?An adjustment, or
something?"

"Even better!We've
been working very hard at Martin to come up with a completely new look for your
instrument.We love it, and we think
that you will too!"

"Great!What will it
look like now?"

"Well, for starters, we're ditching the whole natural wood
grain look.That's feeling a bit old -
we've been doing it since 1833, after all.We'll start by painting the body solid white."

"What?"

"That's right. Very
sleek, very modern.Of course, it's not
all white.We've accented it on the
fingerboard and headplate with bright, vibrant colors.Very edgy, very eye catching."

"You're joking."

"Not at all!And
you'll see that we replaced the font on our logo as well.Those letters in that loopy font in the
golden paint was so last century.Our
logo is now in Helvetica.Very
cool!"

"But I like the old look of my guitar!"

"No, you don't.We've
got top designers that say this look is much better.It's all sleek and modern."

"Can't I keep the same as it was?I appreciate your coming all the way out
here, but I'd really like to keep things as they are."

"Well, I won't do the work today, if you insist.But I'll keep coming back.And pretty soon, none of our replacement
guitar strings, or straps, or anything else will work on your guitar unless we
make this modification.Sooner or later,
you'll need to upgrade, and then you'll thank us.Really."

"If Mr. Martin were still alive, he'd be appalled.He was a huge fan of the natural wood look on
guitars, and he had more taste than your whole design department put
together."

"Well, that's the issue, isn't it?He's not around anymore, so we need to do
something different, or people won't think we're an innovative guitar maker
anymore."

"Even if it's worse?"

"Yeah, even so.By
the way, I see that you have some sheet music for movie music on your
bookshelf?"

"Yes..."

"Well, we're changing that as well.We're going to replace your sheet music.We think it's wasteful to have the title of the music on the top of the page.After
all, you can see what movie it's for on the front cover."

"But wait a minute!I
don't have covers for any of my music!I
won't be able to tell what anything is!"

"No problem, we thought of that.If you don't have the cover, you just have to
label each bit of sheet music as 'my personal music'.That way, we won't take away the title from
the front page!"

"I don't know why you care so much, but if that's your
policy, why don't you simply leave the title on the front page whenever I don't
have a cover?"

"Our designers didn't like that option.They really think it's much cooler if
everything is sleek and uniform."

"Why can't I have a choice with all this?I mean, I'm sure that some people like this
new sleek, modern look, but it doesn't seem like it would be that much trouble
to offer the classic guitar, and then the new guitar look as a separate
option.Isn't that possible?"

"Possible?Sure, it
would be easy.But it doesn't hold with
our philosophy.We offer you loads of
choice.That choice is 'our way or the
highway'.Lots of people like it, so we
must be right."

"But I don't like it."

"Yes, but you're not going to switch to another guitar, are
you?"

"Probably not.I have
too much invested in this one."

"Wow!I'll have to
send a note to our business strategists and tell them what a great job we're
doing.Our guitars are so enmeshed in
our customers lives, that they don't feel like they can switch, even when they
hate what we're doing to them.Good news
for our stockholders.Have a nice
day!"

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About Me

Technology by itself is interesting. But what makes it fascinating is watching and trying to understand the larger kaleidoscope of patterns as technologies rise, fall, interact with each other, and shape and are shaped by the humans who use them. I love watching what emerges, and trying to recognize the invisible currents of technology patterns that lie just below the surface.